Cordelia von den Steinen

“When I am working with clay, I would like to speak my own so that the world that I see and describe does not remain silent for anyone”
Cordelia von den Steinen

Biography

Cordelia Von den Steinen attended the Girls High School and then the School of Arts and Crafts in Basel, where she took lessons from Georg Schmidt, director of the city’s Art Museum. After passing her exams in art teaching, she moved to Milan in 1963 and attended Marino Marini’s courses at the Brera Art Academy. In 1965 she won the Federal Swiss Prize for Sculpture and a scholarship from the Art Museum in Basel, allowing her to move to Rome for a year. In 1966 she moved to Carrara, where she produced various works at Laboratorio Nicoli and met Pietro Cascella who later became her husband. In 1970, thanks to another scholarship, she moved to Paris to attend courses at the Cité Internationale des Arts.

She produced various works for public spaces: fountains in Basel, Riad (Saud Arabia) and Seravezza; sculptures in Vencac (ex-Yugoslavia), Parma Airport, Rapolano Terme, Santa Chiara di Pisa, Pontedera, Cinisello Balsamo, Library of the Italian Senate in Rome, "Il pane di San Francesco", Basilica Inferiore in Assisi, Regione Toscana in Florence, Chieti University; altars for the Church of S. Maria Maggiore in Francavilla a Mare and for the Church of S. Pietro in Pescara. She is also author, together with Pietro Cascella and Mauro Berrettini of "Campo del Sole" in Tuoro sul Trasimeno. In 2000 she also created "La Badia", a sketch for a carpet for the Feast of Corpus Christi in Camaiore. She received numerous prizes for Sculpture in Switzerland during her first years of activity and in 1991 she won the Premio Michetti in Francavilla; in 1992 she became member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome and of the Kunstlersonderbund Deutschland. She has taught Drawing and Sculpture and has designed objects for the home, jewellery and stage costumes for production such as: "Barbablu", Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; "Macbeth", Opera di Genova; "Billy Bud", Festival di San Miniato; "Turandot", Festival Pucciniano, Torre del Lago.